Slaughterhouse Woods
by AidanTheCrab
Summary: While hiking in the woods, Ochako gets saved from a rather gruesome death by a man who dresses like a lumberjack and is strong enough to snap a spine with a glare. Three days later she goes back to thank him and gets caught up in something that no mortal should ever have to face
1. Saved by a Lumberjack

Ochako Uraraka yawned loudly as she groggily descended the stairs of the U.A. dorms. She was in the final stretch of her second year and the teachers were really making things difficult for her and the rest of her class.

She was a few inches away from the stairs when she was tackle hugged by a pink blur.

"Ocha! Good morning" Her best friend Mina Ashido greeted her, Mina was an eccentric pink-haired girl, with pink skin, pitch-black eyes and golden Irises.

"Good morning Mina" Ochako hugged her friend back "Where are all of the other girls?"

"Surprise!" The pinkette yelled "We're all going hiking so go get dressed, and be sure to wear something warm" she then proceeded to run outside, leaving Ochako sputtering and confused in her dust.

* * *

The girls stepped out of the back of Yaoyorozu's limousine, facing the towering mountain that they would be hiking.

The group came to a clearing in the forest, the trail continuing to their left, and a wooden staircase taking up to a different level on their right.

After eating their lunch, they began to get ready to move forward, but for some reason Ochako felt like the staircase was calling for her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear as she steadily accented the wooden stairs.

Ochako was slightly aware of her friends calling out her name, they seemed scared, but Ochako was trapped in some kind of haze before she knew it she felt a long sharp hand grab the back of her sweater and began to yank her further into the woods.

Ochako felt herself get thrown into the dirt, her right leg throbbed in pain and she couldn't move it.

Ochako looked up at whatever had dragged her for so long, and her eyes went wide in abject horror.

Towering over her was a tall boney humanoid monster. Its entire body was pitch black, except for it's blinding white eyes with dot sized pupils, and what seemed to be a permanent smile, that looked borderline painful to maintain. And Razor-sharp fingers that looked like they could slice straight through metal.

The creature reached out its lanky black arm and sliced through a tree that slammed on to her stomach, ensuring that she couldn't move any further.

The monster got down on all fours and began to slowly crawl towards her, it got a few feet from her and it's head turned a full 180 degrees, Ochako held covered her eyes with her hands and silently began crying.

The creature's back then arched and it let out an inhuman screech and flopped to the ground writhing in pain, a large axe protruding from it's back.

The sound of heavy hiking boots, and a buff man, with a thick dark green beard, and green eyes that scared her to her very core, stalked towards the injured mutant. He was wearing a black and green checkered flannel, dark blue jeans, heavy-looking tan boots, a brown leather sash stretching from his left hip to his right shoulder, and a dark green beanie covering his hair.

The man de-lodged the axe from the creature's backside. He swung the axe again, and again, and again, and again, slicing off the creature's forearms and lower legs.

The creature began to attempt caterpillar crawl away from the burly man. The man holstered his axe on his back, and lifted the creature up by the neck, he grabbed the creature's head. It screeched and failed it's dismembered arms, as the man's thumbs made their way Inside of the monsters skull, the man's face scrunched with the slightest bit of effort and he pulled the things skull apart with a sickening _Crack._The burly guy turned to Ochako and walked towards her, he got down on his knee and examined her leg.

"Your leg is fractured, your ankle is sprained, and you have several cuts and bruises. I'd recommend going to a doctor" His voice was gruff and manly. He stood back up and lifted the tree trunk off of her chest, grunting with slight effort. The man looked at her chest for a few seconds "Some of your ribs are probably broken as well.

The man extended his right arm under her legs and supported her head with his left. They began their trek to the entrance of the trail.

The trip was accompanied by an uncomfortable silence, the only sounds being Ochako's occasional grunt of pain when the man shifted her in his arms.

A loud _thud _hit both of their ears, and the man stopped just five yards from the entrance and turned to his left, facing more of the woods.

Crashing through the trees came another monster, six times the size of a silverback gorilla and it looked as if it had all of its skin peeled.

Ochako's panic increased as the man stood his ground and the muscly creature charged faster and faster towards the two "This is it this is how I die. Mom, Dad I'm sorry I'm such a failure" Ochako closed her eyes and buried her face into the shoulder of the man carrying her.

The monster reached the border between the forest and the trail, jumped into the air to squash them with it's fist, and disintegrated into nothing but ash.

The thing didn't even get a chance to scream.

The pair continued onwards, coming to the trail entrance where her friends and homeroom teacher were waiting.

Aizawa pivoted on his left foot and faced the burly lumberjack, his hair floating above his head menacingly.

The man all but dropped Ochako to the ground, where her friends began fretting over her and her injuries.

"I trust that you have someone who can undo the damage that was done?" the man asked Aizawa

"And I trust that you dealt with whatever ever grabbed my student here?" her teacher asked back.

"It had a very fragile skull" the man's eyes narrowed with hesitation to say anymore "It won't be back, trust me"

Everyone at the very least flinched when he said that, except Ochako, fore she had seen exactly what he was implying.

The man began to walk back into the woods before Tsuyu grabbed his wrist with her tongue, making him visibly angry.

"What can we do to thank you?" Momo asked with pleading eyes.

The man wretched his hand away from the frog girls tongue and began to walk away again "If you ever come back, and I highly doubt you will. Stay on the trail"

He turned his head towards the group, piercing their souls with his shimmering emerald eye "And out of my god-damned woods"

* * *

Three_ days later_

Ochako peeked out from her room, looking down both sides of the hallway before making a beeline towards the elevator and pressing the lobby button.

It was 3:47 in the morning, Ochako was never up at this time but today was a special occasion. Today, she was going back to the woods to thank the man who had saved her from an untimely death.

Now obviously, Ochako was not stupid, she knew better than to go back into the woods all alone, which is why she enlisted the help of three of her friends.

Tenya Iida, Eijirou Kirishima, and Katsuki Bakugou all stood in front of the main exit to the dorms, waiting for her.

Tenya and Eijirou had agreed to go with her because they were worried about her being on her own, and Katsuki agreed because she bribed him with an anniversary gift for Eijirou.

"Looks like Round face finally decided to stop being a lazy piece of trash, lets go" Katsuki snarked.

Ochako huffed and followed him out of the door, the other two party members trailing close behind

**Hey, Hi, Hello don't talk to me, this chapter was brought to you by a complete lack of sleep, I'm so tired and I want to die. I'll see you all next week, Peace.**


	2. House of the Lumberjack

It was 5AM and the fog in the woods had settled heavily. Ochako and her friends proceeded carefully throughout the forest. Maneuvering through the low hanging branches, upturned roots, and jutting rocks like water.

Well, all except one.

"Do you have any idea where the hell we're going round face?" Bakugou hissed as he tripped over another protruding root.

"Not exactly, I'm just trying to run into him" Ochako admitted sheepishly.

"SO WE'VE BEEN WANDERING AROUND IN THIS FUCKING FOG WITH ABSOLUTELY NO DIRECTION" Katsuki screamed at the rosy cheeked girl.

Ochako slapped her hand over the blonde's mouth, her pinky up to keep him from floating away. In hindsight, Katsuki wasn't the best person to bring along while she was trying to keep a small profile.

The sound of dead leaves crunching against the ground was heard from the underbrush. Ochako became deathly still, after what happened earlier in the week, she took the sound as a deathly omen.

The rustling came closer and closer with each second, and even the three boys became uncomfortable, all of them got into a fighting stance and prepared to activate their quirks their quirks for whatever came out of the early morning mist.

Fortunately their paranoia was not justified, as a fluffy brown bunny hopped into their line of sight and stared at them curiously.

All party members breathed a sigh of relief, made slightly visible due to the chilling October air. Eijirou cooed and went to get closer to the rabbit, the animal wrinkled its nose and used it's hind leg to scratch the backside of its ear. The innocent critter didn't even get a chance to finish scratching before it was impaled by a bark covered tendril, guts splashed against the leaves.

The red haired boy yelled in horror as he jumped back to the group. The bunny's lifeless corpse was dragged backwards and lifted off of the ground. The bunny kept rising until it was well over 8 feet off of the ground, the tendril then began to lower the bloody rabbit off of the ground, and that's when the four U.A. students saw the owner of the tendril.

Standing tall and intimidating were three 7 foot humanoid trees; their teeth were sharp and jagged, they didn't have any lips so their deadly chompers were on full display. A few tiny branches stemmed from all over their bodies and their eyes were hollow and black. The creature that had the bunny unhinged it's jaw and slowly lowered the blood stained critter into its maw, vomit inducing crunches soon followed.

The sound of multiple pounding legs fastly approaching shook the ground. A large black spider, the size of three All Mights, and with a scorpion tail attached to it's thorax. The spider clicked with joy as it observed its prey.

"I'll handle this, stand back." Katsuki's raised his hands and prepared to fire off an explosion "BURN YOU FUCKING MUTANTS!" Katsuki's palms did nothing and he gazed down at them with angry shock. He shook his hands left and right, trying to draw out the ignition of his sweat.

Ochako pressed all five of her fingers against her thigh, only to find that her weight stayed the same. Tenyas legs sputtered and let out one last puff if exhaust before they went completely dead. Eijirou held out if arms in front of his face and grunted with effort but his arms stayed soft and fleshy.

The monsters chuckled evilly and one of the trees used its tendril to sweep Katsuki's feet out from under him, making him land flat on his back. The spider whipped its tail around and plunged it forward, stabbing the blonde boys calf making him writhe in pain. The spider began to play with Katsuki, poking at him with its gargantuan legs and circling around him, at one point it even began to spin a web.

Whilst the spider was toying with its prey, the trees began to close in on the other three heroes in training. The tree monster closest to Ochako began to harden its tendril into a lance and thrust downwards.

A sharp thwang resounded throughout the forest and an arrow pierced through the skull of the monster, the tip coated in sap. The tree fell dead to the ground and both the creatures and the humans became distracted by the sounds of heavy boots crunching the dead leaves against the ground.

A sound that Ochako knew she had heard before.

The tree that had been terrorizing Tenya was punched swiftly across the jaw, the fist came from a burly man in a green flannel.

"It's you!!" Ochako yelled at the man with relief.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my woods." the buff man barked as he engaged in a fist fight with the wooden wendigo.

"Watch out!" Eijirou warned the lumberjack as the other tree tried to punch him. The flannel clad man pulled a hunting knife from its sheath of his belt and slit the trees throat, sap rapidly spilling from the cut.

The burly man then plunged the knife into the final trees eye, leaving it to fall and 'bleed' on the ground.

"Thank the heavens." Tenya breathed out "Now all that's left is to save Bakugou."

The lumberjacks eyes hardened and he gazed long and hard at the boy, who was now being spun in a web cocoon.

The man hesitated for a few seconds before he let out a tired sigh and unholstered his ax and yelled at the spider to gain it's attention. The spider clicked with bemusement as it took its attention off of Katsuki and focused on the bearded man.

It began to whip its tail around and launched it towards the green eyed man's stomach, only for it to be caught inches from the barb puncturing the man's lower torso. He used his ax to severe a small part of its tail from the rest of it.

The spider let out an ear-splitting screech as it withdrew its tail. The man charged the spider and dropped to the ground to slide under it, he then used his ax to split the creature's stomach apart.

The spider let out a final horrid screech before it fell on its side and curled its legs inwards. The lumberjack then stood back up and used his knife to cut Katsuki free of the webs, before hauling the blondes unconscious body over his shoulder.

"If you want to live to see the sunlight, I suggest you follow me." The man whispered as he took Katsuki further into the woods.

The five of them travelled for a while before they came across a two story log cabin with a stone chimney billowing black smoke.

"We're here." the man said as he kicked open the door and laid Katsuki down on a nearby couch.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Eijirou nervously wrung his hands at the sight of his incapacitated boyfriend.

"Well under any normal circumstance after being stung by a sporpion, no. But I have a remedy for its venom, he should be fine to leave in a couple of days." The man answered.

"Can't we just take the cure and leave?" Tenya asked.

The man gave a dry chuckle and walked into the kitchen, the group could hear him rustling around in a couple of cabinets "That's not an option, those things know that you're here so they're out, ready to attack us as soon as they see us. If he was able to run with us I'd be able to get you all out safely and quickly, but I can't protect you all and kill those mutants at the same time. And with their numbers I'll be overrun in seconds."

"If we were able to use our quirks we could help you but something is preventing us." Tenya said as he looked around the room

"Yeah, this place'll do that to you, the same barrier that keeps those things in is the same barrier that keeps your powers hindered. You'll cellphones will be useless as well." The man returned with bandages, stitches, and a green liquid in a wooden bowl.

"What's that for?" Ochako asked.

"To clean out any infections." The man leaned over Katsuki's body, but he began to stir.

"De...ku?" Katsuki whispered. The man's face hardened and he poured the liquid over the wound, making Katsuki scream before he passed out again.

The sound of tiny feet pattering against wooden floors attracted the attention of all conscious parties.

"P-papa who are these people?" A soft voice asked. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a girl no older than ten years old; she had snow white hair and cherry red eyes as well as a small horn sticking out of the right side of her forehead. She was wearing a white long sleeve shirt, a pair of overalls the same color as her eyes, yellow sneakers, and a green scarf wrapped around her neck.

"They're no one Eri, they just got lost in the woods is all. Do me a favor and go feed the livestock will you?" The girl seemed to brighten up as she gave the man a quick nod and ran out of the house.

"Who was that?" Ochako asked.

"My daughter." the man answered.

"Sir, aren't you worried about one of those monsters attacking her?" Tenya began to swing his good arm in an up and down motion.

"Not as long as she doesn't leave this clearing, there's another barrier around here that protects this house." The man grabbed a fire poker and used it to prod at the burning logs in the fireplace.

"If we're going to be stuck here we should at least exchange names; I'm Eijirou Kirishima, the blue haired boy is Tenya Iida, the brunette is Ochako Uraraka, and the blonde one is-" the spiky red head was cut off before he could finish his introductions.

"Katsuki Bakugou, I know." the man seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before he spoke again "Izuku." Was all he said.

Izuku stood back on his feet "I'm gonna get started on breakfast. Iida, Ochako, watch over Bakugou, call for me if he stirs. Kirishima, go outside and watch over Eri. She's shy and startles easily so make as minimal noise as possible, but don't sneak up on her either. I'll assign you all rooms later tonight."

"I suggest that you three get comfortable because you're not leaving here anytime soon" Izuku's voice grew ominous and foreboding "Welcome to the Slaughterhouse Woods folks" and with that he disappeared behind the kitchen doors.

**I'm so tired right now it's honestly unbelievable, I'm gonna go to bed now. I have a discord server with a bunch of other super talented people, come and say hi; ****https/discord.gg/ZqqtsS. If you want you can come and follow me Twitter as well @AidanTheCrab298. That's it for now, Peace.**


	3. A Lumberjack's Daughter

"Need any help in here?" Ochako asked as she pushed open the door to the kitchen.

Izuku looked back at her before going back to the task that he had been doing, "I thought I told you to watch over Katsuki?"

"Well I was, but then Tenya started talking about the history of leather and I couldn't take it anymore." Ochako chuckled.

Izuku sighed, "Alright, grab the flour and start making the pancake mix." He instructed her.

Ochako nodded before reaching around him for the designated ingredient.

Unfortunately, this led to Ochako being squished between Izuku and the fridge when he turned around to grab something. Her face broke out into an angry red blush as she stared at the much taller man, who was giving her a skeptical look.

"You know, if you don't want bacon, you could've just said so." He said with a straight face.

Ochako blushed even more as she squeezed passed him and grabbed the flour, "Sh-shut up!" She yelled as she grabbed a pinch of flour and threw it at his face.

Ochako was still slightly blushing as she measured out the flour into the wooden bowl, along with the eggs and milk that had already been in there.

And she was still blushing when she felt a small bit of flour hit the side of her face, she looked over at Izuku and she swore that, even through his thick beard, she could see a smug smirk on his face.

While the two were making the food, the short brunette couldn't help but notice how her green haired cooking partner kept looking out the window and staring at Eijirou and Eri, who had warmed up to the red-head quite quickly.

"Hey, if you're worried about Eijirou sinking his teeth into her. Don't. He's basically just a big teddy bear!" Ochako beamed.

"I'm supposed to worry about her, I'm her father." Izuku told her simply.

"Well she must take after her mother a whole lot because she doesn't look anything like you." The brunette pointed out.

Izuku laughed "I'm not her biological father. I adopted her four years ago, she was six at the time."

"You didn't really think she was my kid, did you?" Izuku asked with a questioning glance.

"I thought it was a possibility." Ochako lied.

"How old do you think I am?"

"Thirty-two?" She hopefully asked.

This got a large bellowing laugh out of Izuku, his laugh probably shook the house a bit.

'He sounds like Santa Claus!' Ochako squealed in her head.

"Oh, that was a riot. I'm twenty, only a bit older than you." Izuku told her as he told her as he grabbed three large plates of eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

Ochako's jaw dropped "So you're telling me that despite the fact that you're barely able to drink, and you already have a full beard!?"

"Yep. Tenya, go outside and tell Eijirou and Eri to come inside." The bluenette nodded, before quickly running out through the front door, returning with the two a few seconds later.

Ochako had to hold back the urge to coo as she watched Eri scramble to get into her chair, and even once she was in it her head barely lifted above the table.

Eri stared at her food for a few seconds before she gazed at her burly father with her big ruby red eyes.

"Papa?"

"Yes?"

"Apple?" It seemed like Eri wasn't a big fan of talking.

The lumberjack smiled before he grabbed a bright red apple from a bowl in the middle of the table, and plopped it on her plate.

Eri's eyes seemed to sparkle as she dug into the sweet fruit happily.

"Pardon me, but you wouldn't happen to have any orange juice would you?" Tenya asked.

"Top shelf." Izuku answered as he practically shoved a whole pancake in his maw. Earning a chuckle from Eijirou and a snort form Ochako.

"This tastes...different from the normal store bought orange juice. Much better in fact." Tenya commented as he took a swig.

"That's because it's not store bought." Izuku explained as he folded up another pancake and shoved it into her mouth.

"What do you mean?" The bluenette speedster asked.

"Papa made it himself." Eri answered quietly.

"I didn't know that oranges were even able to grow in this area." Eijirou stated.

"They aren't. Something you should know about this place is that it's an anomaly in all senses of the word. There's a field of tulips not too far from here. And I was walking through the woods just about a mile east when I came across a banana tree." The burly greenette explained as he sat back in his chair.

"How, it's the middle of fall?"

"After everything I've seen, I try not to question anything. I've seen it snow during the middle of summer. I've seen a lake get lit ablaze. After a while all that just becomes normal." Izuku answered.

The rest of their meal was carried out in silence, before Izuku stood up and informed the group that he was going outside to split some firewood.

"I'll help you!" Ochako quickly said as she stood up as well.

Izuku stared at her strangely for a few seconds before relenting, "Alright fine. Eijirou, you stay in here and watch Katsuki, call out for us if he starts to get rowdy. Tenya, watch over Eri."

Ochako eagerly followed the lumberjack out the door as he grabbed his axe that had been propped up against the wall.

Izuku led her out to the back of the house, where a stump was patiently waiting for them, along with a large pile of smaller logs.

The greenette immediately got to work, grabbing one of the small logs and placing it on the stump. He placed one hand near the end of the handle and the other at the very top, pressed up against the blade. Izuku stood for a moment, before swinging the axe down full force, the hand at the top of the handle gliding downwards as the axe fell.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," Ochako took a step back as Izuku grabbed one half of the split log and placed it back on the stump "But how do you keep this place running?"

"Well there's a generator that keeps the lights on, pipes that lead to a nearby lake with the cleanest water I've ever seen. The rest? Back breaking labor." Izuku grunted as he split the log once more, before throwing the two pieces to the side.

"Now let me ask you a question. Why do you keep insisting on helping me?" The burly man asked as he placed the other half of the log onto the stump.

"I don't know. I guess I feel like I owe you? I mean, you did save my life twice." Ochako chuckled.

Izuku hacked through the final piece of wood before he flipped the axe around in his hand and extended the handle towards Ochako, earning a questioning look.

"You said you wanted to help."

The brunette looked at the handle and bit her lip, before grabbing onto the handle with both hands. Being dragged down slightly by the weight of it.

Ochako raised the axe above her head and slammed it down with all her might, unfortunately, all of her might only put a slight dent into the log.

"I did it wrong, didn't I?"

"You did, but I did the same thing my first time too, so I have no room to berate you. Let me show you how to do it." Izuku stepped behind her and took her soft porcelain hands into his grizzled and calloused ones, using them to guide her hands to the correct position; one hand at the bottom of the handle, and another at the top.

"Loosen your grip on your hand at the top." Izuku commanded, to which she followed immediately. Izuku escorted her hands as the axe swung downwards and split the log in two.

"I did it!" Ochako cheered out, before she began blushing madly as she realized that the burly man behind her still had her hands in his.

Izuku must have noticed this as well because he immediately backed off and, after awkwardly clearing his throat, placed one half of the log on the stump to be split once more.

The two of them proceeded in silence, taking turns chopping the logs into four pieces. Not one word was spoken until…

"Momo?"

The axe stopped inches from the final log as Izuku got a look in his eye that seemed to be a mix between fear and anger.

The greenette began to walk towards the front of the house and saw Eri playing in a pile of leaves and Tenya staring confused at the woods in front of him.

Out of the forest slithered a creature with a fat, slug-like, dark blue body, it had two tiny three fingered arms sticking out of its torso, and its head was flat and wide, with five eyes sticking from the top.

It hissed at Tenya which caused him to gain a small blush on his face, the snake creature outstretched it's arm and Tenya did the same.

"Shit! Cover her eyes!" He commanded Ochako while pointing at Eri.

The two took off in different directions, Ochako got to her target first and placed her hand on top of Eri's eyes, and watched as Izuku hacked off the creature's head with his axe, spurting his and Tenya's face with blood.

Izuku grabbed the creature's body by its tail and slung it into the forest where it wasn't visible, before grabbing the head and bashing it against a rock until it made sounds similar to punching a squashed watermelon, all while yelling with an unbridled rage.

Izuku grabbed Tenya by the scruff of his shirt, lifted him up, and pulled him close to his face.

"Listen to me **VERY FUCKING CAREFULLY,** the only things in these woods that don't want to tear you apart until you resemble string cheese, are the two inside that house and the three in this yard. You could have easily gotten my daughter killed, do you understand that?! Unless you get an ok from me, don't trust anything in these fucking woods!" Izuku's voice boomed with a mighty rage, before throwing Tenya's catatonic face to the ground.

"Where are you going?" Ochako asked as she watched Izuku take his axe up from the ground and start heading for the woods.

"To make sure that thing didn't have anything else with it." Was what she got as an answer, before he disappeared into the woods.

It wasn't until the sun was almost set that Izuku returned, his face and clothes splattered with blood of all different colors.

**\--**

"Tell me a story Papa!" Ochako halted next to the door of the small girl. She was heading back to her room after taking a quick shower, when she heard Eri excitedly demand a bed-time story.

"Don't you think you're getting a bit old for stories?"

"But Papa-"

"I didn't say no." Izuku chuckled.

"Once upon a time, there was a lonely, and cowardly wolf, shunned by all of the other creatures he came across. One day, as he was walking through the woods, he came across a deer, the deer was being swarmed by vultures and crying out for help, and for once in his life, the wolf decided to be courageous. He sprinted towards the deer and picked her up in his mouth, taking care not to hurt her, before running away from the flock of vultures."

"Then what happened?" Although Ochako couldn't see her, she could hear in Eri's voice that she was beginning to drift off.

"I'd assume you'd know, I have told you this story a thousand times." Izuku pointed out.

"Keep going!" Eri sleepily whined.

"The wolf ran, and ran, and ran, eventually running into a dense forest. His pace slowed before he ran into something, a monster, the wolf got scared before he began to run in the other direction, the creature hot on his tail. He came to a clearing, when he ran into the vultures once again. He had nowhere to go, cornered between the monster and the vultures, the wolf silently apologized to the deer and braces for the inevitable. But it never came. Instead he heard a loud roar and watched a large grizzly bear come crashing through the brush and scared off the vultures and the monster. The wolf became completely enamored with the bear and followed him to his home, with the small deer following close behind him. The bear led the two to his cave, where the three of them lived out the rest of their days in peace." Ochako heard silence, before the click of a lamp signified that Eri was now asleep.

The brunette watched Izuku quietly close the door, with a soft smile on his face.

"You know, if you're gonna try the whole 'heart made of stone routine' you're gonna need to try a lot harder." She joked as she walked past him and to her room.

"Go to bed." Izuku said to her, opening the door to his own room.

"The tin man has a heart!" She sang out.

"Sleep!" He said and closed his door shut.

Ochako smirked before she did the same, drifting off into the realm of sleep mere moments after landing in her bed.

**Hey everyone, not much to say here other than I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter. Now I gotta get back to crying over the Steven Universe finale. That's it for now, Peace.**


	4. Calm Before The Storm

"Where the fuck have you been for the past three years?"

The question confused Ochako to no end, she had woken up mere moments ago and came down to get something to eat, when she had stumbled upon Katsuki and Izuku staring each other down.

"Why the hell do you care?" Izuku asked.

"I don't, at least not for my sake, I care for your mother's," Katsuki snapped.

"If you must know, I was about to go and take your advice, when I ran into a little girl in trouble. At first I was just gonna move on, but her eyes held so much pain in them that I couldn't ignore it. This guy in a mask walks up to me and claims to be her father, but she whispers to me that he's lying, so I pick her up and run. I eventually got to these woods and I turned around just in time to see the dude in the mask get impaled by a tentacle, and then dragged to the bottom of a lake. Another tentacle comes up to get me, but it gets hacked away by an axe," Izuku explained.

"And who was holding the axe?" Katsuki asked, his voice sounded hoarse and strained.

"An old Italian man, Julius Zeppeli. He took me in and cared for me, until one day he was killed, and I was forced to take up both his axe and the role of protector of this forest," Izuku answered.

"What the hell do you have to protect in here?" Katsuki questioned.

"I don't protect anything in the forest, I protect the rest of the world from the forest," Izuku told him.

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, and Ochako was about to finally go downstairs when Katsuki asked another question.

"Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked back.

"I can always tell when something's bothering you, you get this look in your eyes. I saw it every time you tried to stand up to me," Katsuki explained.

The lumberjack sighed, "Those things out there are planning something, yesterday one of them got right up to the barrier around the house, none of them have ever done that before. They're up to something, and I need to get you, your friends, and my daughter out of this place before it happens."

"What about you?"

"I'm meant to die in this place, it's my destiny," Izuku solemnly said.

There was another long beat of silence, before Izuku spoke once again, "I should wake your friends up, I'm gonna be teaching them how to keep themselves alive today. Get some more rest, you should be ready to move in a day or two."

By the time Ochako realized that Izuku was heading up the stairs, he was already right in front of her face.

"Good you're here, I need you to watch over Eri for an hour or two," Izuku said.

"Yeah, of course," the brunette smiled.

"Thanks, she should be awake by now so you can go in and see her," Izuku told her, before he went up to the room that Tenya and Eijirou slept in, and began to bang on it. When it didn't open, Izuku simply forced his way into the room and came back out with the sleeping forms of the two boys draped over his shoulders.

Ochako cautiously went up to Eri's door and knocked on it softly, there was a few seconds of silence, before a quiet click signified the unlocking of the door. Eri's room was painted a light pink color and both her bedframe and her dresser had been painted white, Eri herself sat on the floor drawing.

"Hi!" Ochako said as she squatted down to eye level.

"Hello," Eri greeted back, not taking her eyes off of her picture.

There were a few more drawings surrounding the little girl, "You drew these, right?" For a seven year old, they were quite well done, at the very least they weren't disproportionate stick figures.

Eri nodded and held up the picture she had been working on; it was a large, grey haired man swinging down an axe on a smaller green haired man, who was blocking the axe with a bow.

"Is this?"

"That's Papa and Grandpa, they used to allow me to watch them train together before Grandpa died," Eri answered.

Ochako was about to ask another question when two feminine screams from outside met her ears, she opened up the window to see Tenya and Eijirou sitting on the ground, soaked, and Izuku standing in front of them, holding a hose and smiling.

The brunette chuckled to herself and turned her attention back to Eri, the two spent a few hours playing together before Ochako noticed a small, hand-crafted doll.

"Did you make this too, Eri?" Ochako asked.

The small unicorn child shook her head, "No, Mama did."

'Why does that provoke anger in me?' Ochako questioned herself, 'More importantly who does she mean by Mama? I'm the only other girl here, right?'

"Eri, who do you mean my Ma-" the door opened and cut her off as Izuku walked in the room.

"Papa!" The horned child barreled into the large man's legs, slightly catching him off guard.

"Hey, little girl," he greeted, "Think I could borrow her for a few seconds?" Izuku asked, pointing at Ochako.

Eri nodded before running off, Izuku made a motion to follow him and the two walked to the back of the house, before the lumberjack threw a wooden bow and a leather quiver at Ochako.

"What's this for?" She asked.

"You need to learn how to properly defend yourself against the monsters that dwell in this forest, and you're gonna use this to do it," Izuku explained.

"But I already know martial arts," Ochako argued.

"Trust me, you're gonna want to keep your distance from those things," Izuku warned her, "Now, have you ever used a bow before?"

"Sometimes during summer camp," Ochako admitted.

"Good," Izuku slammed his foot down on a hidden button and a large stone plate soared through the air and towards Ochako's face.

"WHAT THE HECK!" the brunette cried out as she ducked under it.

"You need faster reflexes," Izuku deadpanned before slamming his foot on the button again.

"Stop doing that!" Ochako said as she ducked once again.

The two spent several more hours like that, Izuku firing a seemingly unlimited supply of plates, and Ochako trying her best to hit them.

"You did good, you're a fast learner," Izuku complimented.

Ochako huffed, "Well it was either that or get my face smashed in."

"Hey, you did better than your friends," the lumberjack chuckled.

"So, is that all you had planned for us or?" Ochako trailed off waiting for the response

"Follow me," Izuku said as he walked into the woods, "The pipes haven't been bringing in much water lately, so you're gonna come with me to see if something is obstructing it."

Ochako silently followed him through the forest for a good half hour, before coming across a large crystal clear lake.

"Well, I found what's blocking the pipes," Izuku said with a grimace.

"What is i- OH MY GOD!" Ochako yelled as she saw the bloody deer carcass laying in front of the pipe. Many of its bones were exposed with small amounts of meat still on them, and what little flesh it still had was charred to bits.

"Burnt flesh?" Izuku quietly asked himself, the two of them heard heavy footsteps from behind them and the lumberjack's eyes went wide, "Get down!" He yelled he tackled Ochako out of the way of a stream of flames.

A large rotund creature stood before them, he had a single green eye, no lips, gray armour covering its body, twin cannons in the place of arms, and two tubes connected to its back emanating a soft orange glow.

Izuku removed his axe from the place on his back and raised it high to attack, only to be shot into a nearby tree by a blast from one of the creature's cannons. It was almost as if he didn't feel anything as he hopped back to his feet and drove his axe into one the creature's two toed feet.

The monster roared before grabbing Izuku in-between its cannons and lifting him towards its rows and rows of sharp teeth.

Suddenly, the creature stopped and began to spasm uncontrollably until it exploded, leaving behind a bloody corpse that was a fourth of its original height.

"What did you do?" Izuku asked.

"I-I severed one of his tubes," Ochako stuttered out.

"We need to get you all out of here," Izuku urgently said as he grabbed the brunette by the wrist and began to drag her back to the house.

"W-why, what's the matter?!" Ochako frantically questioned, Izuku sounded genuinely scared.

"That thing that you killed, it's called a mancubus, and it was sent to kill us, it used that fucking deer as bait to drag us out," Izuku answered.

"Who sent it?"

"Think of it like this; this forest is a beehive, all of the creatures you've seen are nothing but worker bees, but the thing that sent the mancubus to kill us, is the queen bee," the lumberjack explained, "And the queen bee now knows that someone who's not supposed to be in her hive is in there, so she wants them dead. Which is why I need to get you, your friends, and my daughter as far away from this hell hole as possible."

"I can't just leave you to fight all of these things on your own!" Ochako protested.

"These things want a war, and trust me, you don't want to be here when I give it to them."

**Hey all, it's probably worthy for me to note that this story had about 2 or 3 chapters left before it's done, and I just wanted to say that I'm really grateful for all of the people that have read this. That's it for now, Peace.**


	5. Impending Carnage

Izuku slammed through the door so hard it nearly flew off its hinges, scaring Eijirou and Tenya. "We need to get moving, now!"

"What? The hell is happening?" Eijirou asked.

"Those bastards are coming for us. The monster that leads these things summoned up a monster that's been dead for decades," Izuku explained.

"I do not understand, won't that barrier thing protect us from them?" Tenya questioned with a chuckle.

"You know I should be thanking you Tenya, if it wasn't for you that Slither from yesterday would have gotten what it wanted," Izuku said putting up his axe and walking over to the wall closest to the stairs. He punched through one of the boards and pulled out a tattered book, navy blue in color and with several golden bumps on the spine.

"Wait, you're saying that the monster from yesterday was here for a reason other than to try and kill us?" Ochako was more confused than she had ever been since...ever.

"Not a doubt in my mind, the Slither got distracted was all. These things are deadly but dumb." Izuku tilted his head upwards and cupped his mouth with his free hand, "Rhys!"

Small feet could be heard padding across the roof, along with the mumbles of an old man. A board in the ceiling slid open and a small creature with dark blue skin, wisps of grey hair, and both a pointy set of ears and nose, dropped down and hung from the roof like a monkey. He wore a tan vest and black slacks.

"Oi laddie! What's all of the fookin' yelling about? I'm tryin' tae sleep ye arsehole," Rhys yelled in anger.

"Who is that?!" Ochako asked in surprise.

"That," Izuku scowled," is the gremlin that lives in my attic and steals my food. He's a piece of shit, but he helps me understand the monsters that roam these woods."

"Glad tae know ye think so highly of me. By the way, breakfast yesterday was far better than it's ever been," Rhys commented.

"Blow it out your ass. Can you lower the barrier around the woods?" Izuku asked the gremlin.

"'Course I can, but I'll need my book and a couple of hours, and ye still have one of those things." Izuku tossed the book up to Rhys, which he caught effortlessly with one hand, "Well then. I do have one wee question, why in the bloody hell would ye want to take down the barrier? 's the only thing that keeps the horrors of this forest from the outside world."

"Shut it."

"Fair enough, see ye all in a few hours." Rhys pulled himself and the book back into the attic, and put the floorboard back in place.

Izuku then turned to the brother of Ingenium, "Tenya, how fast can you run?"

"At my max speed, I can easily break Mach 3."

"And how long would it take you to reach U.A. going at that speed?"

"Thirty minutes," Tenya answered.

"Good, I'll lead you out of the woods, you run to U.A. and round up the teachers, and grab any other heroes you can find on the way back," Izuku commanded. " I may be strong, but not enough to fight my way to their leader."

"Right," Tenya said.

"Eijirou, I need you to stay here and protect the cabin until I get back. I don't want anything getting near this place. Do you both still have the weapons I have you?" Tenya took up a large silver sickle, and Eijirou donned some spiky silver gauntlets. "Good. Ochako, you stay in here and make sure Katsuki's condition doesn't take a turn for the worse.'

"I can handle myself," Katsuki spoke up, suddenly on his feet. It looked like it was causing him discomfort, but he was on his feet nonetheless.

Izuku stood there with an impassive expression on his face. "Fine." The woodsman walked outside for a few seconds, before returning with a chainsaw and throwing it at Katsuki.

"No way, I'm not gonna allow him to go and fight, he's not well," Eijirou protested.

"Eiji, you of all people should know that I'm not gonna back down from this," Katsuki quietly stated.

Eijirou stammered for a few seconds, before sighing, "I know, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna drag you back here the minute you start lagging behind, it would be unmanly to do otherwise."

The two of them left through the front and Izuku turned to Ochako, "I have another job for you."

"Whatever it is, I can handle it." Ochako clenched her fist close to her face.

"As soon as you all get out of this forest, I want you to take Eri and run, run as fast and as far away as you can. Take her away from this place, take her away from...me." Izuku turned his head away in what seemed to be shame.

A soft hiccup from behind them caused them all to turn around. Eri stood at the bottom of the stairs, tears pounding down her cheeks like a waterfall.

"Eri, it's for-" Eri took off running up the stairs, clearly too distraught to talk to her father at the moment. Izuku followed her a few seconds later.

Ochako climbed up the steps and watched Izuku guiltily knock on Eri's door. "Come on baby open up."

"No!" Eri yelled from her room, her voice was muffled, more so than it should be.

"Please, you know that I can't stand you being angry at me," Izuku pleaded with his daughter.

"Go away!"

Izuku sighed and Ochako took that as her cue to step in. "Let me try, you go and get Tenya."

Izuku nodded sadly and walked downstairs. Ochako knocked on the door a couple of times and called through the wood, "Eri, sweetie, it's Ochako, can you open up the door for me?"

There were a few seconds of silence, before the door clicked open. Ochako waited a few more seconds to walk inside.

Eri was sitting up on her bed with her legs drawn to her chest and her face was drenched with tears.

"Hey." Ochako sat down on the bed next to her. "Are you doing ok?"

"No," Eri mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Ochako asked.

"Everybody keeps leaving me! Mama left me, Grandpa left me, and now Papa wants to leave me! WHY DOES NO ONE LOVE ME?!" Eri sobbed loudly.

Ochako lept forward and wrapped her arms around Eri. She felt something well up in her gut, an almost primal instinct to protect this child from any harm, physical or mental, like a mama bear whose cub was being attacked.

As she cradled the child in her arms, Ochako softly ran her fingers through Eri's hair. "Your father doesn't want to leave you, he just wants to make sure you're safe."

"Are you gonna leave me?" Eri asked quietly.

"Of course not."

"...Can you be my new Mama?"

Ochako froze up, she didn't know what to say in response. Should she say no and upset the girl but save her from greater heartbreak in the future? Or say yes, and make her happy in the moment, but risk her assuming that she and Izuku were in some kind of relationship, and getting upset when she learned the truth?

Not to say that if the situation arose where she could be in a relationship with the muscular, handsome lumberjack that was actually super sweet and considering under all the levels of "Get the fuck out of my woods" that she would refuse.

Ochako bit her lip in thought, hoping that her brain would come up with a solution that would prevent both of the drawbacks, but she couldn't.

The brunette sighed, before giving her answer.

"Of course I will."

* * *

Ochako sighed and blew a stray strand of hair out of her face as she plopped down on the couch. Eri was now asleep in her bed, leaving Ochako alone.

Questions rattled around in her brain by the hundreds, but the biggest one was, "Who did Eri mean by Mama"?

Of course she couldn't ask Izuku who she was talking about, that would just be awkward, but maybe there was one other option.

"Rhys?" Ochako called up to the ceiling.

Stomping could be heard from the attic, as well as Rhys' mumbles of "Bloody cunts."

"What do ye want, Lass?" Rhys asked as he dropped from the attic.

"Who is Eri talking about when she says Mama?" Ochako asked back.

"Well, if what I heard earlier is true, she's talking about ye," Rhys answered.

"Ok, first of all, weird that you listened in on that, second of all, the person who she was talking about before me," Ochako clarified.

"Oh, well, to tell you that, I would have to go back to the beginnin', ye see, Izuku had a mentor, a man by the name of-"

"I already know about Julius."

"Well, did ye know that Julius had a daughter, who Izuku was madly in love with?" Rhys asked with an annoyed tone.

"No," Ochako said through gritted teeth.

"Well that's who she's talkin' about: Mia Zeppeli. She left these woods a few days after her father was killed," Rhys explained.

"What happened to Julius?"

"Izuku got cocky in his early years of learnin' how to fight the monsters, gained himself a god complex, thought himself ready enough to kill their queen by himself," Rhys sighed.

"Queen?" Ochako questioned.

"Ye've only heard her be referred tae as 'the monster that runs this forest' but her real name is Nyarlathotep, an ancient evil shapeshifter. May I finish my story now?" Rhys looked at her annoyingly.

"Sorry," Ochako said.

"Now where was I? Ah yes, well Izuku thought himself powerful enough tae kill the queen on his own. Of course Julius knew that he would be torn tae shreds before he could fully become the next protector of the forest, and ran after him… Nyarlathotep injured him, and he...died out back." Rhys looked away somberly. "Mia blamed him, and asked tae be escorted out. We've never seen her again."

"Jesus," Ochako whispered.

"Yep, Izuku didn't leave his room for a week, until one day, I saw him talking tae himself near Julius' grave. Next day he went out and slaughtered fourty-seven monsters in the span of two hours," Rhys chuckled.

"An hour and fifty-two minutes," Izuku corrected from the doorway.

"What did you hear?" Ochako asked.

"Basically everything. But that's not important right now. Gremlin, did you find a way to lower the barrier?" Izuku questioned.

"Ugh, do ye have tae keep callin' me that, ye know my name!" Rhys groaned.

"Answer my question," Izuku ordered.

Rhys sighed, "Yea, I've got a way to tear it down, just need to perform the ritual is all."

"Good, get ready to leave here in about two seconds." Izuku walked up the stairs and came back down with a sleeping Eri in one of his arms, he then walked over to Rhys, picked him up, and dropped him on his shoulder. "Let's go."

* * *

Multiple cars screeched to a halt in front of Izuku, Ochako, and the rest of them, some of them normal black cars but the majority of them police cars.

"I told you to bring heroes, Tenya, not cops, they'll just get Slaughtered." Izuku glared at the bespectacled boy.

"I assure you, Iida didn't have a say in this decision. And the police have been given authorization to use their quirks to deal with the monsters I've been told about." A strange short animal hybrid with white fur stepped out of one of the black cars. He wore an all black suit, with the exception of a red tie.

"My name is Nezu and I'm the principal of U.A. University. I have rounded up as many heroes as I can and we are prepared to help you with...that." Nezu gestured behind Izuku.

The green-haired man slowly pivoted behind him, and his eyes widened. Ochako turned around as well and backed up in fear. Multiple monsters were lined up at the border of the barrier, some that Ochako had seen before, and some that she hadn't.

Among them were a six legged wolf with wings, a star-nosed mole with green liquid dripping from its claws, and an alligator with a stone drill instead of front legs, as well as a stinger at the end of its tail.

"If you wanna fight, then you better get ready!" Izuku called out as he deposited Eri into Ochako's arms. "Remember what we talked about?"

"I'm not gonna leave," Ochako argued.

"You have to," Izuku begged as Rhys began to chant from the top of a random police car.

"No, I need to be here, you need all the help you can get," Ochako stamped her foot to show her protest.

Izuku growled in frustration, before scooping Eri back up and turning to a couple of cops. "You four!" Izuku placed Eri in the back of a police cruiser, "Protect this car, if anything happens to the little girl inside, I'll gouge your eyes out with a blunt rock."

The four officers nodded in fear. "Y-Y-YES SIR!" they all yelled in unison.

Suddenly, the barrier sparked and holes began to form rapidly. Ochako could swear she could see the creatures smiling maliciously as she got into a fighting stance.

The heroes and cops got into fighting mode as well and Ochako could see Izuku draw his axe from the corner of her eye.

The barrier fully dropped, and all hell broke loose.

**The walls are crashing down everyone, get ready for a shit show. That's it for now, Peace.**


	6. Death Protocols

Izuku let out a mighty yell as he threw his axe with full force, embedding it in the skull of a monstrous gorilla-like creature. The monster fell to the ground, where the woodsman climbed up its arms, retrieved his axe from its head, and brought it down upon a gangly black creature.

He spun around and grabbed a six-legged wolf before yanking a fang out of its jaw and slamming it through its skull. It didn't take too long after that for Izuku to get his hands on a large blue wasp, squishing it against a tree trunk.

Unfazed by the hoard of enemies coming towards him, Izuku readied his axe and charged forward with a primordial roar.

* * *

A young man with pale skin and lavender hair stood flanked by monsters on all sides. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before arcs of electricity the color of his hair began to shoot all across his body.

"STOP!" At his shout, the monsters came to a complete halt a few feet from him, allowing the young man to step out of the box he had been placed in.

"Now, attack each other."

As he watched the creatures slaughter their allies, Hitoshi couldn't help but think about all those times people had told him that his quirk was villainous.

He shook his head; there was no time to think about that now, not while he was on a battlefield.

* * *

Katsuki chuckled manically; finally he could go all out without fear of hurting an innocent. All kinds of lethal ideas on how to use his quirk came flooding into his brain.

Such ideas included: placing his palms on the side of something's head and blowing it up, and blasting a creature so high that it couldn't survive the fall.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a mound of dirt speeding towards Izuku. Without a second thought, Katsuki slammed his palm against the dirt and sent an explosion through it that caused a mole creature with long spindly claws sheathed in a green liquid to come flying out of the soil.

Izuku's head snapped to see behind him, and with a scowl, he swung his axe and hacked through the mole. He looked to Katsuki and gave a small nod of appreciation before charging back into the fray of monsters.

* * *

There was no way they were gonna win this.

Already, several cops were dead, and it didn't even look like they had put a dent in the monsters' numbers. They were seemingly appearing out of thin air.

Ochako gasped in surprise when she felt Izuku's calloused hand clap down on her shoulder.

"Take care of my daughter for me," he said. "And don't come looking for me."

"What the hell are you doing?" Ochako asked, concerned by that last sentence.

"Something I should have done long ago." Izuku walked towards the woods, a fiery determination in his eyes. The monsters parted as he passed by them, appearing to know exactly what he was planning.

Something's in Ochako's gut told her that he wasn't coming back anytime soon.

* * *

Izuku stood at the foot of a mound made from rock and clay in the heart of the forest. A dark cave stared him down, wind billowing ominously from its mouth, and monsters surrounded him, kneeling and bowing their heads.

One easy step into the cave, and torches on either side of him lit up, emerald green flames burning bright.

With each step another set of torches came to life, illuminating Izuku's face in a pale menacing green.

The woodsman closed his eyes as he kept walking, taking in the calming silence, the only sound being the wooshes of the torches lighting.

Once his eyes opened once more, an ethereal figure stood next to him, blanketed in a warm, light blue light.

"You know that this is a bad idea, right? That you're throwing everything away?" the specter questioned Izuku.

"I'm not throwing anything away. I'm making this world safer…"

"I'm giving my daughter a better life," Izuku said, his fists balled in muted anger.

A ghost of a hand fell on his shoulder. "Then we're behind you till the end."

Izuku finally reached an opening in the cave, lit not only by torches but a hole in the ceiling that allowed sunlight to filter through.

Sunlight that fell directly upon a shapeless black blob of a creature, green and red veins stretched across its gelatinous form, white mask-like constructs littering its body. Eyes of all sizes and colors shifted towards Izuku, and although it didn't have a visible mouth, he knew that it was grinning wildly.

"Nyarlathotep," Izuku growled.

"Izuku Midoriya," she gurgled out in a sickening amount of voices. "So nice of you to join me!"

"Shut up. What do you want?" the lumberjack snarled, his temper bubbling.

"Straight to business, I can respect that. I'll cut to the chase then, you have been destroying an awful lot of my children lately—"

"You're 'children' have homicidal tendencies," interrupted Izuku.

"Needless to say, I require a new specimen to help me birth a new generation, and you are the perfect candidate. Strong, fast, smart — all the qualities I would like to instil in my new brood. And in exchange, when we take over this world, I promise to leave your precious daughter alone," Nyarlathotep offered with a shrill laugh.

Izuku spat at the eldritch god before yelling, "Like hell, you ugly motherfucker!"

"Hmm, perhaps _this_ form could convince you otherwise." Nyarlathotep's body enveloped itself in a blinding white light, and when it faded, the nude form of Ochako stood in her place.

Izuku froze, shocked by her transformation, and soon Nyarlathotep began to laugh in her many voices.

"Look at you, pathetic, so desperate for love that the first woman who shows you kindness you fall for, even when she is out of your league by a mile." Nyarlathotep began circling around Izuku, dragging her finger around his body. "You're like a gazelle desperately trying to mate with a lion."

"Dr-Drop that goddamned form right now." For the first time in God knows how many years, Izuku stuttered.

Nyarlathotep's hand grabbed Izuku by his chin, and made him look into the hazelnut eyes of the only person he had cared for in a while. "I promise to keep my word, your daughter will be safe. All you need do to ensure her safety is to help me forge my next generation of children."

The woodsman raised his fist and attempted to smash the demon's face in, but the anticipated impact never came, his arm shaking inches from the innocent face of Ochako.

"You can't hit me, can you?" She asked with a maniacal chuckle., "The most fearsome protector this forest has ever seen, and he struggles to hit one measly woman. _Pathetic!_"

Defeated, and without the willpower to stop her, Izuku had resigned himself to try and sprint to safety, like the coward he once was. The coward he still was. That's when a phantom hand latched onto the back of his neck.

"Are you really going to run, like you did years ago…"

"When you left me to die?" Julius asked.

Time seemed to slow as the ghostly figure of his mentor took his side.

"Do you understand that she has tried this same thing on all of us?" One by one, nine more spectral figures stood next to him. "This charade can not last any longer; you must kill her, whether she's in her true form or this one."

"She will not rest until she is dead, or she controls this world."

"Your daughter will be lost to the carnage as well. She is not going to keep her promise."

"You alone are the last line of defense. Fulfill your destiny, the one that we could not."

"As I said, she has tried this trick on us all. If you have truly fallen for this girl, then you should be able to tell her from this demon," Julius whispered.

Izuku's mind flashed through the events of the past few days, from meeting a group of people that were kind to him, despite his brutish nature, to cooking with the first woman he had felt feelings for since Mia...

...to seeing a drawing from Eri that called Ochako her mother.

All of these memories seemed to act like a defibrillator, jump-starting his mind and filling it with a rage like no other.

Izuku's hand shot up and grabbed Nyarlathotep's wrist before wrenching it from his face. Behind him, Julius smiled. "Good, now let us help you kill her." Julius' phantom body reduced itself to particles that flooded into Izuku's body.

The woodsman screamed. Something was happening to his body, and it fucking hurt, like someone had lit a fire beneath his skin. The pain only increased when the other guardians did the same.

Izuku fell to his knees, coughing violently as bits of foam fell from his mouth. Even Nyarlathotep was freaked out enough to back up a few paces.

Finally, after three full minutes of his screams of agony, he fell quiet. Slowly, Izuku got to his feet, keeping his head down.

Faster than he had ever moved before, he raced up to Nyarlathotep and grabbed her by the throat before raising her in the air.

Izuku tilted his head up to her, meeting her confused and terrified gaze with static glowing blue orbs.

"Fuck. You," Izuku snarled, his voice now multiplied.

He threw her at the back wall with all his strength, resulting in a crater and her true form returning.

Izuku planted a foot on her body and began to scale the demon.

"In the name of Julius Zeppeli—"

A fourteen foot cobra appeared out of nowhere and lunged for his neck, only to be caught and get its bottom jaw ripped off.

"No, in the name of every guardian that you have killed—"

A Minotaur attempted to bum-rush Izuku, but he just threw his elbow back and crushed its face in.

Izuku reached the top of Nyarlathotep's body and ripped a chunk of her black flesh off, exposing her grey matter. He took his axe from his back, and as he rested both of his hands on it, bright green markings began to spiral up the handle and blade.

"—DO I HEREBY VOW TO MAKE YOUR DEATH AS PAINFUL AS POSSIBLE!"

* * *

Off near the forest entrance, where the battle was going on, all of the monsters simply stopped.

It confused the heroes and what remained of the police to no end; some of the monsters even allowed themselves to be killed: they just stood there, facing the woods.

Suddenly, one of the creatures screeched in agony, and they charged into the trees.

The sound of metal slamming against concrete tore their attention behind them, where Eri was stepping over the rusted and broken door of a cop car.

Eri attempted to break through the line of heroes, but she got snatched up by Tenya. Immediately, the little girl began to pound her tiny fists against his forearms, but to no avail. She managed to escape by leaning down and biting the man, but before she could even get a few steps, Eri was grabbed again, this time by Ochako.

"No! Let me go, let me go find Papa!" Eri screamed.

In truth, Ochako wanted to charge into the forest as well, but she knew that it wasn't safe, so she simply stroked the little girl's hair and tried to calm her down. "I know, I know, but we can't look for Izuku right now. I promise that we will, though."

Eri seemed to calm down a little bit at that, and allowed herself to be carried back to the car she had been in, but not without a pout.

Ochako could only hope that soon, Izuku would walk through the trees.

* * *

Izuku trudged through the forest, caked in green blood, and without his axe. He had left that with what little had remained of Nyarlathotep.

If he didn't already look depressed, he certainly did when he saw the state his home was in.

His livestock? Murdered. His crops? Destroyed. Something big had trampled straight through his house, leaving nothing but rubble.

Izuku quietly sifted through the debris and ripped a board from the ground, revealing pounds upon pounds of C4, and a small muddy green detonator.

A branch snapped behind him, and Izuku let out a sigh. One by one, all of the remaining monsters in the forest surrounded him.

Izuku stood up and held his detonator as high as he could, before letting out an antagonizing war cry.

"COME AND GET ME YOU MUTANT MOTHERFUCKERS!"

He was overcome in seconds, dog-piled by everything that surrounded him, but he held strong, his detonator raised above all of the chaos.

_'Ashes to ashes.'_ Izuku primed the C4 and closed his eyes, _'Dust to dust.'_

_Click_

**BOOM**

* * *

**BOOM**

Ochako's head snapped towards the forest and watched as a fiery mushroom cloud erupted into the sky. A few seconds later a shockwave sent her and everyone else crashing to the ground.

Ochako groaned as she pushed herself to her feet. Across from her, Rhys had his hands held behind his back and was solemnly staring at the hood of the police car he was standing on.

"Rhys, what just happened?" Ochako fearfully asked.

"And when tae demonic mother has been slain, her unholy children will swarm tae the killer and tear him limb from limb," the Scottish gremlin whispered.

"Rhys you can't possibly mean—"

"I'm sorry," Rhys cut her off, "But Izuku's last battle has been fought, and by god did he win in a glorious fashion."

The sound of Eri's wails could be heard across the world.

**... Now I can understand if you are upset with me, but, we still have two chapters left, so try not to kill me in the meantime. That's it for now, Peace.**


	7. Mother and Daughter

Ochako sighed as she plopped down on a couch in the common room. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and reclined further into the couch.

It had been months since Izuku had...left, and Eri was left without a caretaker. U.A. had attempted to put her into a foster home but the little girl had refused to leave Ochako's side. She never realized just how much work went into taking care of a child.

Eri was sleeping currently, a rare occasion unless Ochako was in the same bed, giving her the chance to rest for once. It was during times like these where she was incredibly thankful that Nezu had forced Aizawa to go easy on her.

"Hey, you ok?" A deep voice from behind her asked.

This was her classmate Rikido Satou, a tall buff man with thick lips and spiky brown hair, he was also the best baker in the world.

"I'm fine Satou," Ochako lied.

"Now that's bullshit and ye know it." Rhys stepped out from his hole in the wall to call her out, "Ye look half dead, lass!"

"I don't think I'll ever get used to you."

"Well maybe I won't get used to ye then," Rhys retorted back at Rikido.

"I just wish I wasn't doing it alone," Ochako admitted, "But she doesn't trust anyone but me right now."

"Well then we get her to trust the rest of us," Rikido said simply.

"But how?" Ochako questioned.

"I have an idea, you said that apples were her favorite fruit, right?" A smile spread across Rikido's face.

* * *

Eri let out a small yawn as she padded down the stairs, she had woken up without the woman she had claimed as her mother and it had scared her, so naturally, she began wandering around looking for her.

"Mama?" Eri peered around the corner of the kitchen, watching Ochako and an unknown man pratle around.

"Hi sweetie," Ochako greeted, noticing the girl behind them, "Come here, me and Satou have something for you."

Ochako knelt down in front of her and handed her what looked to be an apple with a stick running through it, covered in a sticky red substance.

"What is it?" Eri hesitantly asked, taking the treat from Ochako.

"It's a candy apple. You'll love it I promise," Ochako smiled.

Eri took a slow and small bite, before her eyes exploded in sparkles.

"You made these for me?" she quietly asked Rikido.

"Wouldn't make 'em for anyone else," he replied.

Eri paused for a few seconds, looking at the candy apple and muttering a soft 'Thank you' to Rikido.

"That's for the help Satou, but It's getting late and it's time for Eri to go to sleep. I've already got a plan in store for tomorrow," Ochako explained, picking up Eri and taking her to the stairwell.

"Bye sugar man," mumbled Eri as she was carried off.

* * *

"Are you sure this is ok, Mina? I'd hate for you to miss your date with Shinsou," Ochako said.

All of the class 3-A girls and Eri were at one of the many malls scattered around the city, this one just so happened to be the one where Hitoshi had his close encounter with Tomura Shigaraki, formerly known as All For One.

"Eh he's fine with it, he isn't a big fan of our public dates. Actually he isn't a big fan of the public, he hates being recognized," Mina answered.

"Y'know I still don't know how you managed to get him to date you. You two are polar opposites," Kyouka remarked.

"Simple, I was persistent. He even used his quirk on me a few times to get me to go away. It eventually, I learned that the best sentence to ever be strung together by humans was: 'You wore me down'." Mina made a few exaggerated hand gestures when she said that last part.

"Kero, speaking of relationship, Yaomomo cover the child's ears." Momo did what she was told, thankfully Eri now trusted the five of them or she might of freaked out.

"How busy did you get with that Midoriya dude for her to be calling you 'Mama'?" Tsuyu croaked.

Ochako immediately turned red and began to sputter, "M-me and Izuku didn't do anything!"

"Hmm, first name basis, nice," Toru teased.

Ochako almost buried her face in her hands out of embarrassment but was stopped by Kyouka.

"Alright you guys, let's not send her to the sun just yet, curfew is in an hour or two so we need to get moving," she told the girls, who all nodded and began to make their exit.

None of them noticed the hooded figure that had been following them since they arrived.

* * *

"I'm not gonna help you take care of that kid," Katsuki answered before she could even get the question out.

"Come on Bakugo, even Todoroki has given it a shot. You don't have to take care of her, you just have to bond with her a little bit," Ochako argued.

"I'm not good with kids, so you can count me out," Katsuki said, he then sighed before continuing, "But I know someone who is."

"Really?" Ochako asked.

Katsuki dipped into his room and came back a few seconds later with a slip of paper, "Take the brat there, explain everything to the woman who lives in the apartment and she'll be more than happy to help."

* * *

Ochako repositioned Eri on her hip so she could knock on the door properly, a few seconds later the door slowly opened, revealing a short, plump woman, with green hair and eyes, she looked almost identical to Izuku except she didn't have freckles.

"Are you Inko Midoriya?" Ochako asked.

"Yes, who's asking?" Inko answered.

"My name is Ochako Uraraka, I'm—" Ochako paused, realizing her mistake, "Was a friend of Izuku's...and this is Eri, you're granddaughter."

Inko froze, "Izuku had a child?"

"Not technically, he kind of adopted her, but she's his daughter," Ochako explained.

Eri, who had been burying her face in her mother's shoulder, turned her head just slightly so that she could gaze at the other woman with one eye.

"May I?" Inko asked, gesturing to the little girl.

Ochako let Eri down and nudged her towards Inko, "Don't worry, she won't hurt you."

Eri slowly approached Inko, who knelt down in front of her, practically sobbing. Suddenly, Eri began to giggle.

"You cry like papa."

'Izuku was capable of crying?' Ochako thought to herself.

"Please, come inside. I'd love to get to know my grandbaby." Inko began to pull them into their home.

"Actually Mrs. Midoriya—"

"Inko, please dear," she corrected.

"Right, Inko, I'm sorry but we can't stay. There is something that I wanted to ask of you though: I have final exams coming up soon and I don't have anyone to watch Eri. If it's ok with her, would you like to do it?" Ochako asked.

"You don't even have to ask, darling," Inko smiled.

"Eri, sweetie, would you be okay if I left you with Inko while I did my exams?" Ochako knelt down to get on eye level with her daughter.

Eri looked down for a bit, seemingly in thought, before simply saying, "I'd like to stay with grandma."

"Perfect!" Ochako smiled, "Inko, are the seventeenth and eighteenth good for you?"

"They're just fine," Inko replied, a smile spread wide on her face.

Ochako picked up Eri once more and began to leave, but stopped as a thought crossed her mind.

"Inko, I just wanted to say that your son was a real hero. He saved me twice...and I just wish I could have returned the favor."

The mother guiltily looked into her apartment, almost as if she was hiding something, "I'm sure just hearing that would have been more than enough dear."

* * *

Three months.

It had been three months since Izuku died and Ochako still wasn't over it. Why did she feel this way? She barely knew the guy but it felt like he had been a part of her life for years.

As she was lost in thought, she failed to notice her daughter walking up to her, a small leather book in her hands.

"Mama?" She asked, breaking up Ochako's inner monologue.

"What is it, sweetie?"

Eri held the book out for her to take, "I took this from Papa before we left, I think he'd want you to have it."

Ochako suspiciously took the book, and slowly flipped to the first page.

_Day 1095,_

_Something weird happened today, a woman showed up inside the barrier, I had to pry one of the anorexic bastards off of her. Something felt...off when I looked at her, for the life of me I can't figure out what it was._

_-Izuku_

Ochako's eyes widened as she realized what day this was referring to, and she quickly flipped past three more pages.

_Day 1098,_

_She came back, and she brought friends with her, and one of them just so happened to be Katsuki. Apparently her name is Ochako and she came back to thank me, but she just so happened to run into a Sporpion and a couple of those tree monsters. I'm not gonna lie, she's a nice girl, she helped me cook breakfast, chop firewood, and she even gets along with Eri pretty well. I still get that feeling when I look at her, like something is tugging at my heart, it almost feels like what happened with Mia._

_-Izuku_

_Day__ 1099,_

_I feel this may be my last entry, so I'm making this quick, a Mancubus attacked me and Ochako. I know I killed all of those things, which means the worst is happening. So I'm writing my final message now, if this survives the explosion, I'd like it to reach my mother eventually, she deserves to know why I disappeared. I guess one good thing is coming out of this, I got to talk to Julius early this morning and I asked him about the feeling I had when I was around Ochako and he explained that he had a similar feeling when he met his wife. I guess after all I've seen, maybe a soulmate isn't such a crazy idea._

_-Izuku_

Ochako was only now aware of the few tears that had been running down her cheek.

"Mama, are you okay?" Eri cautiously asked.

Ochako set the book down, brought her child into her lap, and hugged her tightly.

"I'm fine sweetie, I'm fine."

**We've got one more chapter before this story is finished so just sit tight, all will be explained soon. That's it for now, Peace.**


	8. Fairy Tale Ending

Ochako took a deep breath, steeling her nerves for what was to come. Almost everything in the past three years had been leading up to this moment. Her graduation from UA.

Ochako adjusted her cap one last time before something plowed into her legs. She looked down to see the smiling face of her daughter.

"Eri, you're supposed to be with Mom, Dad, and Inko," Ochako lightly scolded as she picked the little girl.

"I know, but I wanted to see you," Eri said innocently.

Ochako chuckled slightly, Eri had definitely gotten better at not being with her for periods of time, but she still stuck to her like glue, even after a full year.

"Can't I stay with you Mama?" Eri's eyes grew wide and sad.

The puppy dog eyes, Eri had learned that her grandparents couldn't resist them, and often used them to get what she wanted. Although Ochako couldn't really tell if it was the eyes or they just loved to spoil her.

At least they didn't work on her.

Most of the time.

_'Resist those eyes of hers Ochako, hold your ground!'_ She told herself, setting her daughter back on the ground.

"It'll be ok sweetie, I'll be back in a little bit. Your grandparents will take care of you!"

Eri huffed but ultimately complied, running back to Ochako's father who gave her a thumbs up in response.

Ochako heard her name called and she ran up the steps with giddiness, eager to finally close this chapter of her life.

Nezu handed her the diploma and she bowed to him before running off stage, joining the rest of her class.

Mina grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her a bit, her usual bubbliness amplified by the importance of this day.

One Momo had taken her diploma and sat down with the class, Nezu stepped up to a podium, seemingly about to give a speech. The principal opened his mouth to speak but never got the chance to, as the dirt erupted, sending both teachers and students flying, and destroyed the stage.

A large amount of figures began crawling out of the hole in the soil, the smoke making it difficult to make out what they actually looked like until—

"Nomus!" Eijirou shouted, hardening his body and removing his gown, revealing his hero costume.

The rest of the class did the same and as the smoke cleared, they saw the Eijirou had told the truth, as about two Dozen Nomus stood across from them, their eyes dead and their brains exposed.

In front of the Nomus were three people, This first a short blonde girl whose hair was tied up in twin buns, she wore a school girl's outfit and carried a multitude of small blades.

The second was a man with multiple medical staples across his body, parts of his skin were an unsettling dark purple color, his hair was black and he wore a black and grey trenchcoat over a simple white shirt.

The last was a man with light blue hair, he wore a black long sleeve shirt and black sweatpants, and his entire body was covered in severed hands, including his face, where a red eye stood out from between the fingers.

The blue haired man spread his arms out wide, gesturing to those behind him, "This game is not over yet heroes, it is time for the final level, and me and my crew shall make sure you don't survive it! Such is the will of Tomura Shigaraki, ALL FOR O—!"

A knife flew out from nowhere and lodged itself in Tomura's head, putting an end to his rant, and his life as blood spurted from the wound.

"You know, I remember reading that All For One was a freakishly powerful villain, one that seemed to predict every event days before it happened. I figured it would take more than throwing a knife," a familiar voice said from behind everyone.

Ochako swiftly spun on her heel and faced a pair of tired emerald eyes, his hair was just as wild as it used to be but his beard wasn't as long, he was missing his pinkie finger on his left hand, and he wore a three piece suit with a green tie.

"Izuku?" Ochako quietly asked.

"Surprise?" Izuku softly chuckled.

"But how, Rhys said you died."

"Yeah, Rhys did say ye died?!" The small gremlin seemed just as confused as her.

"Hey guys did it work?" A new voice said.

Everybody turned to where Tomura had once been to see that his body was now a brown goop, and a man wearing a mask that was half white and half black was poking his face out from the dirt hole.

The masked villain turned his head down and looked at the pile of goop in the grass, "Aw man, I was so sure it would work. Hmph, I knew it wouldn't work!"

"Leave the Nomus to deal with them, we should escape while we still can," the black haired villain ordered.

The female villain began to pout, "But I wanted blood!" She whined.

"You can get it from some random civilian. Nomus, attack!" The black haired villain pushed the female down the hole and jumped in after her as the monstrosities advanced.

"Stop," Hitoshi ordered, causing the Nomus to cease their attack, "Sit down and wait to be arrested."

"What was the purpose of that?" Izuku asked after a few minutes.

"My guess is they were trying to scare us, All For One is powerful, even all of us wouldn't be able to take him on. So we should be thankful that he's still locked in Tartarus," Hitoshi surmised.

Izuku sighed as he still felt Ochako's eyes on him, "Ochako, I know you're mad but if you'll just let me explain—"

Ochako quickly shushed him, "Just...shut up for a second." Her hands grabbed the sides of his face and brought him down to her level for a chaste kiss, but not one lacking in any passion.

Ochako let him go and his face held a starstruck expression, "That was...wow," Izuku said.

"Yeah, it was."

"Papa!"

Izuku instantly turned to his left and crouched down, picking up his daughter as she slammed into his chest, her face soaked with tears.

"Hey, it ok baby, I'm here. I promise I won't leave again." Izuku stroked her hair and whispered calming words to her, which did little to calm her down.

"So we're just going to ignore the fact that this guy has been dead for a year?!" Eijirou shouted. He then proceeded to shrink under Ochako's glare.

"Technically it was only a day," Izuku explained, "My quirk saved me."

"You don't have a quirk though," Katsuki pointed out.

Izuku chuckled, "That's what I thought too. I've called it Lazarus. When I died, I was given a choice: continue to the afterlife, or go back, but at a price."

"Your finger," Tenya realized.

"Yep, I woke up and I was short a finger."

"So where have you been all this time then?" Ochako asked.

"He's been staying with me," Inko admitted, a slightly guilty look on her face.

"But why not come to me— I mean your daughter immediately?"

"The process of rebuilding takes a bit. I was little more than a skeleton with flesh on it when I got to my mom's house. I didn't want either of you to see me like that," Izuku said.

"Well, what really matters is that I have you back now." Ochako wrapped her arms around him before quietly whispered, "And by the way, I saw that thing you wrote about soulmates."

A small grin painted itself across Izuku's usually stoic face

**\-- 11 years later**.

"I don't understand why I have to wear this monkey suit," Izuku griped as he tugged at the collar of his suit.

"Because you're not gonna wear a flannel to a charity gala," Ochako sternly told him, adjusting his tie, she then leaned in close with a coy smile on her face, "And just to make sure you behave, I'm wearing that little blue thing you like."

The two heard giggling coming from the kitchen, Ochako didn't even look up she just yelled, "Eri, I know what you and your boy toy plan to do with that chocolate sauce, put it back!"

"Mom!" Eri yelled, dragging her boyfriend up to her room.

Ochako moved to a vanity they kept near the TV to do the rest of her makeup.

Something came barreling down the stairs, and once again she didn't even look. Ochako stuck her hand out and tapped all five fingers against her son's chest, causing him to float off of the bright green riot shield he was sat atop, his messy brown hair standing on end.

"Sachi, what have I told you about shield sledding in the house?" Ochako asked, still paying more attention to her makeup than her scolding.

"Sorry mom," Sachi laughed as his mother let him down.

"We'll be back in a bit, don't burn the house down again!" Ochako called out to her children as she dragged her green haired husband out the door.

Once inside the limousine that was meant to take them to the gala, the two got a chance to relax. Ochako knew taking care of one child was stressful but two was much harder, especially when one of those was an eighteen year old.

"You look beautiful," Izuku said, interrupting her monologue.

"Thanks. You don't look so terrible yourself," Ochako smiled.

Finally, she had everything she could ever want, enough money to have both her parents and her family more than comfortable. Two amazing children, and a third on the way as she recently found out but she didn't have to tell Izuku about that just yet. And she had the love of her life, the person she knew she wanted to grow old with.

With a smug look on her face, she leaned in close to Izuku's ear and whispered, "Y'know, it's still a few hours drive till we get to the gala. If you want we can start playing with that blue thing now, and don't worry about noise, the carriage is sound proof."

"I love you."

"I love you too." Ochako's smile went wider as the two leaned in for a kiss.

She had finally got her fairy tale ending.

**And that's it for Slaughterhouse Woods, this is the first story that I've actually finished and that feels like a rather big accomplishment. I know that the ending reads like the script to a Hallmark movie but I know for a fact that a lot of people would've been pissed with my original ending.**

**I'm going to be responding to comments on the AO3 version, just to clear up any questions you guys have. Here are the links to the two discord servers I lurk around in the most:**

**The Hoard: https/discord.gg/vxe2Bu**

**LoM: https/discord.gg/R9BU25t**

**That's it for now, peace.**


End file.
